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Show Wild Turkey Has Abandoned Michigan; No Suitable Cover Is Left for Them During the early 80's there existed exist-ed certain sections in the lower peninsula pen-insula of Michigan that were considered con-sidered excellent hunting grounds the wild turkey over its former range, but it is doubtful if it can be done. In commenting on this suggestion William B. Mershon, of Saglnew, an old turkey hunter and recognized authority on this bird and the passenger pas-senger pigeon, says: "It is 8ll nonsense non-sense to talk of bringing back the wild turkey to Michigan. There is no suitable cover left in southern Michigan for them. Naturally they never ranged north of the Kawkaw-lin Kawkaw-lin river, near Saginaw. You cannot can-not raise them in a little patch of woods. They want a bit of swampy land for winter cover, ridges of beech to scratch for beechnuts; maybe a nearby plot of buckwheat would attract them for their morning's morn-ing's feed. They are great wanderers wander-ers and I do not know of a single place where conditions would permit per-mit them to exist in the wild state in Michigan." for wild turkeys, "inis w- ularly true of the hardwood ridges and swamp areas adjacent to the larger watercourses. The turkey disappeared from Michigan in the 90' s due to lumbering and the destruction de-struction of the necessary type of cover for its protection and propagation. propa-gation. Since that time, says a writer in the Detroit News, sporad.c attempts have been made by game and shooting shoot-ing reserve owners to re-establish this bird, but in every instance the birds disappeared within a few years from the habitats over which they were released. Various individuals indi-viduals and sportsmen's organizations organiza-tions have been endeavoring in tne last few years to influence the state conservation administrators to attempt at-tempt to propagate and re-estabhsh |